Psychodelic

"Ecstasy" (3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine, MDMA) is a prototype of a class of amphetamine derivatives that selectively destroy serotonergic neurons in several brain regions of various species, including, most probably, humans. Due to its psychostimulant and psychodelic effects, "Ecstasy" has been increasingly abused, especially in association with the "Rave" (sub)culture. However, it is not an innocent stimulant. At least 30 cases of severe psychiatric disturbances (chronic psychoses, panic disorders, suicides) induced by recreational doses of "Ecstasy" have been reported during the past 10 years in periodicals included in MEDLINE data base...

The role of various neurotransmitter systems in the brain in extinction behavior is examined. An attempt is made to suggest psychological mechanisms (such as attention, secondary reinforcement or internal inhibition) by which the neurotransmitter systems or drugs act to produce the observed alteration in extinction behavior. The putative neurotransmitters acetylcholine, noradrenaline, dopamine, serotonin, endorphins and the peptides are reviewed, as are pharmacological agents such as the benzodiazepines, the barbiturates, the psychodelics, the neuroleptics, the psychomotor stimulants and cannabinoids...

The concept of functional structures was introduced by Kepiński. At the Second Scandinavian Congress on Image Analysis in 1981 Kohonen provided evidence that the map of signals has the same topological order as the map of reactions. These topological concepts can be applied also to logical structures. The same is true also of functional structures described by Kepiński in schizophrenia, which may be created or destroyed, but their topological order remains unaltered. Functional structures change in obscuration and in hallucinogen-induced psychodelic states...

The author reviews the basic features, nature of action and the effects of the canabis drugs (hashish and marijuana) on human organism. The review starts with the well known fact that these kinds of drugs are the oldest ones and the most widely known to the civilization. It reviews in details very wide effects of the canabis drugs on the mental functions as well as the clinical expression of that action, where the basic mechanisms dominate: euphorogenic, sedative and psychodelic. With a detailed description of all psychopathological phenomena that appear in the chronic hashish and marijuana addicts, where the amotivation syndrome and flash back are particularly pointed out...

Nowadays young people during the phase of their puberty and adolescence often show symptoms of a grave crisis of identity which particularly idspose them to drug-abuse. On the one hand this search for one's identity is characteristic of the formative years of a juvenile; on the other hand it is a general problem of the generations which must be seen in the full context of the social, technological, industrial and political development of our time. Lacking possibilities of identification in the context of a general relativism of traditional norms and values, radical changes in the structures of the family and of our society, accompained by over-exaggerated demands on one's personal performance and prosperity, and significant failures of communication as well as the unreflected liberalization of a "permissive society" make young people look for new possibilities of identification which they try to find in sub-cultural groups and fascinating experiences which drugs...